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Technology Stocks : General Magic -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: dgurgel who wrote (7684)	1/12/2000 8:27:00 AM
From: dgurgel	Respond to of 10081

A poster on the Raging Bull board said he considers AOL-GMGC almost a "done deal." AOL and GMGC is hardly a done deal. (There is of course no announcement or press report linking them directly since their earlier linkage in about 1994 on the Magic Cap PDA.) Look at AOL on the web browser issue from 1995 - 1996. Their first web browser was homegrown (or a second tier third-party). They then announced a deal with Netscape, and within three days, after a personal call from Gates to Case, switched to IE. Now they own Netscape but use IE. All of the portals, including AOL, will need to do a MyTalk type service. There should be a huge demand, and at least two GMGC-like companies should do quite well. Excite was a nice first step but the condition of the Excite-GMGC partnership is shrouded in the present no-news fog. Internet Chat was the hot item in 1997 and 1998; and ICQ, a product of the Israeli firm, Mirabilis, was the rage. AOL bought Miabilis in June 1998. ICQ was far hotter than MyTalk, note the membership numbers and the price in this June 1998 press release. "America Online Inc. confirmed Monday [THIS IS JUNE 1998] that it has acquired Mirabilis Ltd., an Israel-based company that makes the popular ICQ instant messaging software, for $287 million in cash. Under the deal, which was rumored for weeks, AOL will pay Mirabilis $120 million in performance incentives beginning in 2001. The payments will be spread over three years. AOL said it will take an in-process research and development charge in the fourth quarter. The company, which also acquires Mirabilis' 12 million registered users, also said the acquisition won't hurt earnings." GMGC's current market cap is $232 million. I could believe a purchase of General Magic by an AOL-type company at a price of $300 - $500 million. GM? Excite? I could believe a take-it-or-leave-it $200 million offer too.